THE EFFECTS OF MODERATE DRINKING. 



199 



subject some years ago, a full account of which, was laid before 

 the Royal Society, and published in its " Transactions " in 1864, 

 under the title of " The Action of Physical and Chemical 

 Agents upon the Blood, with Special Reference to the Respira- 

 tory Process." 



The relative effects of alcohol and opium were found to be as 

 follows : 



IN 100 PAETS OF AIE. 



Composition of employed air 



With pure ox-blood 



With pure ox-blood + 5 per cent of al- 

 cohol 



With pure calf 's-blood 



With pure calf's-blood + '005 grm. of 

 morphia 



Vol. at 0° C. and 

 1 metre pressure. 



20-96 

 14-91 



18-97 

 10-11 



18-17 



• A glance at this table suffices to show that alcohol, even in 

 the small proportion of five per cent, exerts a powerful chemical 

 effect on blood, so powerful as to entirely derange one of its most 

 important functions — namely, the function of respiration. The 

 alcohol seems to have acted like an asphyxiant, inasmuch as it 

 has not alone diminished the powei of the red corpuscles to ab- 

 sorb oxygen, but to exhale carbonic acid, and that too in the 

 same way, though to a somewhat lesser extent than morphia 

 does. This peculiar chemical action of the alcohol on the blood 

 nerve-pabulum may be thought to give a reasonable explanation 

 of the paralyzing action of alcohol ui^on the nervous system, see- 

 ing that oxidation is the motor power of all vital action, and in 

 direct proportion to its activity are the manifestations of life 

 accelerated or retarded. Every breath we draw, every move- 

 ment we perform, every thought . we think, is but the outcome 

 of the transformation of matter under the influence of oxygen. 

 If, then, it be true, as above shown, that alcohol possesses the 

 power of preventing the constituents of the blood from being 

 properly/ oxidized, and thereby fitted for the purposes of nutri- 

 tion, it is easy to account for its producing a chain of more or 

 less well-marked neurotic symptoms terminating at last in coma 

 and death. — Abridged from the London Lancet. 



It is urged in behalf of Antarctic exploration that it will promote a needed 

 extension of our geographical and geological knowledge ; will contribute to a 

 solution of the question of a connection of the volcanic disturbances in the Sunda 

 Islands and New Zealand along a " weak line " with the volcanoes of Victoria 

 Land ; will aid in determining whether any secular climatic change is in prog- 

 ress ; and may be the occasion for resuming the magnetic survey of those parts 

 and comparing the results with those obtained by Eoss. 



